Monitoring operations and regeneration of granular beds in reactors, sieve cases, etc., require positioning of thermocouples at various locations in plane and elevation. Reactor and bed arrangements frequently require thermocouple wells to be inserted horizontally through the wall of a vertical vessel and multiple wells are frequently used for checking temperatures at defined locations on a horizontal plane across the bed. Long wells are likely to be bent, due to catalyst settlement or dumping, so that they cannot be easily withdrawn for inspection or repair and their actual location may be in question.
Various devices have been utilized but none are adequate for measuring a plurality of temperatures of a vessel of fluid simultaneously in a plurality of precise locations in substantially a horizontal plane. U.S. Pat. No. 2,350,976 (Class 257, Subclass 262) has heat conducting fins along the tube and not at precise points or locations as set forth in the following disclosure. U.S. Pat. No. 3,399,570 (73-399) discloses a single temperature measuring device for measuring only one temperature across an enclosed space instead of measuring a plurality of temperatures at a plurality of precise locations in a horizontal plane simultaneously. U.S. Pat. No. 3,487,689 (73-399) likewise only shows one thermometer supported for variable positioning. U.S. Pat. No. 3,518,883 (73-359) discloses means for measuring fluid at two locations in a vessel or vessels of fluid, but no means is provided for supporting and protecting the heat sensing devices in the fluid from damage. U.S. Pat. No. 3,534,609 (73-339) likewise only measures the average temperature in a furnace instead of several precise different temperatures utilizing a single steel or alloy tube extended across the space to be measured.
Thus the following objects of measuring various precise temperatures are desired and are found in the disclosed invention.